Examining the competitive landscape of digital platforms
: a cross-sector analysis

  • Cristiano Geração Batista da Costa (Student)

Student thesis: Master's Thesis

Abstract

The emergence of digital platforms has transformed the study of competitive dynamics, challenging traditional theories of competitive advantage, such as Market-Based View. When these theories are applied to the digital economy, there is a tendency to make generalizations about how strategic factors impact the digital platforms. Often, this approach views digital platforms in a “one-size-fits-all” perspective, overlooking the unique characteristics and differences that exist between different sectors within the digital economy. Given these challenges, this study has proposed to analyse the competitive landscape of digital platforms through a sector-specific lens, aiming to answer the research question “How different factors affect competitiveness across digital platforms?”, which divides itself into: “What factors impact firms competitiveness?” and “Which factors specifically affect competitiveness within different sectors of digital platforms?”. Utilizing a mixed-methods approach, this analysis extends through sectors such as social media and ride-sharing to measure the relative impact of strategic factors identified from established theories of competitive advantage. The study reveals that the influence of these factors is not uniform across the digital platform economy, highlighting the sector-specific nature of competitive dynamics. Only one of the ten strategic factors analysed – network effects - shows a consistent impact across all sectors, due to its connection to the nature of platforms. Consequently, this research calls for more discussions that consider sector-specific nuances within digital platforms in strategic management.
Date of Award17 Jul 2024
Original languageEnglish
Awarding Institution
  • Universidade Católica Portuguesa
SupervisorRita Ribeiro (Supervisor)

Keywords

  • Digital platforms
  • Competitive dynamics
  • Strategic factors
  • Market-based view

Designation

  • Mestrado em Gestão

Cite this

'